The present invention relates to nail polish removers and specifically to novel liquid compositions which dissolve fingernail polishes and which are constituted by three or two liquid phases, not miscible, which are superimposed one over the other when the compositions remain still. This invention can be formulated as a xe2x80x9cBi-Phasexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cTri-Phasexe2x80x9d remover. The Bi-Phase contains two separate layers: a solvent phase top layer and an aqueous phase bottom layer. The Tri-phase contains an oil phase top layer, a solvent phase middle layer and an aqueous phase bottom layer. The present invention is designed for the purpose of conditioning and protecting nails and cuticles while removing the nail enamels simultaneously.
In U.S. Ser. No. 09/416,573 the composition comprises three liquid and immiscible phases, the phases being superimposed one on the other when the composition is still. The top phase comprises from 9.8% to 30% by weight of at least an oil a) selected from the group consisting of mineral oils and vegetable oils which are in liquid form at a temperature ranging from 40xc2x0 F. to 120xc2x0 F.
The solvent phase comprises from 20% to 56% by weight of at least one removing nail enamel solvent b) which is immiscible with water, and which is other than a hydrocarbon; from 0.1% to 24% by weight of at least one removing nail enamel solvent c) which is miscible with waterxe2x80x94the total weight of solvents b) and c) in the composition being from 20.1% to 70% by weight.
The bottom phase comprises
from 8 to 40% by weight of water; and
from 8% to 35% by weight of at least one glycol polymer d) having an average molecular weight in the range of 200 to 1200. The glycol is selected from the group consisting of polyethylene glycols and polypropylene glycols.
In the examples in U.S. Ser. No. 09/416,573 the solvent immiscible with water is ethyl acetate and the solvent miscible with water is acetone.
It has now been found that substantial improvements are achieved if instead of the ethyl acetate the composition contains about 25-70% of methyl acetate and 0.5-10% of tert-butyl acetate. One advantage recently achieved is the elimination of acetone or solvent which may dehydrate the fingernail and cuticles.
The mixture of these two solvents also permits to obtain a bi-phase, that is a composition comprising only a solvent phase and an aqueous phase. This bi-phase composition is totally new in this Continuation-in-part application.
The tri-phase composition consists of a
As shown in the Table hereinbelow, the total formulation consists of
The composition may also contain coloring materials and a fragrance as shown in the Table hereinbelow.
The composition of the three phases is as shown in the Table hereinbelow.
The oil is selected from the group of oil that is in liquid at a temperature from 40xc2x0 F. to 120xc2x0 F., including but not limited to mineral oil castor, etc.
The solvents are methyl acetate and tertbutyl acetate.
Glycols are selected from the group of polypropylene glycol and the group of polyethylene glycol
The Bi-Phase composition consists of a
Coloring materials and a fragrance are preferably added.